The Charlie Kirk Show - November 07, 2025


Kill the Filibuster: Genius or Blunder?


Episode Stats


Length

39 minutes

Words per minute

188.3022

Word count

7,394

Sentence count

584

Harmful content

Misogyny

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

13

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, we talk about the Democratic filibuster and why it needs to be destroyed. We also talk about why President Trump should get rid of it and what he would do if he had the votes to do so.

Transcript

Transcripts from "The Charlie Kirk Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:03.000 My name is Charlie Kirk.
00:00:05.000 I run the largest pro-American student organization in the country fighting for the future of our republic.
00:00:11.000 My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth.
00:00:14.000 If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're going to end up miserable.
00:00:19.000 But if the most important thing is doing good, you'll end up purposeful.
00:00:24.000 College is a scam, everybody.
00:00:26.000 You got to stop sending your kids to college.
00:00:27.000 You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible.
00:00:31.000 Go start a Turning Point USA college chapter.
00:00:33.000 Go start a Turning Point USA high school chapter.
00:00:35.000 Go find out how your church can get involved.
00:00:37.000 Sign up and become an activist.
00:00:39.000 I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade.
00:00:41.000 Most important decision I ever made in my life.
00:00:43.000 And I encourage you to do the same.
00:00:45.000 Here I am, Lord Museman.
00:00:48.000 Buckle up, everybody.
00:00:49.000 Here we go.
00:00:56.000 The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the leading gold and silver experts and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends, and viewers.
00:01:09.000 All right, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:01:10.000 I'm Andrew Colvett, executive producer of this fine show, joined by Blake Neff.
00:01:15.000 We're going to talk about the filibuster.
00:01:17.000 And, you know, you know, because we've had internal debates about the pros and cons of doing it.
00:01:22.000 Now, I, you know, think back to Kirsten cinema.
00:01:27.000 So let's set the bigger context here because if you haven't seen it, it's that, so we have the filibuster right now.
00:01:34.000 Yeah.
00:01:35.000 Basically, it's 60.
00:01:37.000 What it is is the filibuster is you can, you only need 50 votes to pass a piece of legislation, 50 plus the vice president as a tiebreaker.
00:01:45.000 You only need that to pass legislation, but they have no limit on debate, basically, and you can extend debate indefinitely, and you need 60 votes to overcome for cloture, which is where they vote to end debate.
00:01:59.000 Now, this has been curtailed back over time.
00:02:03.000 It used to basically be you could do it on anything, and then they rolled it back for Supreme Court justices, then any judicial nominations.
00:02:11.000 Did they do it on another thing?
00:02:14.000 It's definitely Supreme Court.
00:02:15.000 It's definitely been rolled back over time, but it's remained for normal legislation.
00:02:18.000 You can get around it with the reconciliation, which they can do basically once or twice a year.
00:02:24.000 But now, President Trump has, and as you were saying, Democrats tried to get rid of it, but they failed because cinema and manchin weren't on board with it.
00:02:31.000 They blocked it.
00:02:32.000 Now, President Trump has said Republicans should get rid of the filibuster.
00:02:37.000 He's loudly agitating for it.
00:02:38.000 He's saying he's going to make it, you know, he's going to bring hell down on Republican senators who don't want to do it.
00:02:47.000 But so far, Senator Thune and others have not sounded terribly interested in getting rid of it.
00:02:52.000 Well, Thune is now saying that he doesn't have enough votes.
00:02:55.000 Also true.
00:02:55.000 And so basically, Trump doesn't have the Democrats offered him the votes for it.
00:03:01.000 You think they would?
00:03:02.000 I wouldn't be.
00:03:03.000 It's weird.
00:03:04.000 Like, the more time passes, the more incentive they have to do it.
00:03:07.000 Because if you're a Democrat, and I think the biggest reason to be hesitant about this is I think Republicans are putting themselves in a position where they might destroy the filibuster, take all of whatever backlash there is to be had for doing that, and then not do anything with it.
00:03:23.000 All they'll do is they'll end the shutdown.
00:03:25.000 Yeah.
00:03:25.000 And that's it.
00:03:26.000 Yeah, I tend to agree.
00:03:27.000 So I don't think there's enough consensus within the Republican caucus to do anything useful with it.
00:03:33.000 Exactly.
00:03:34.000 If you were going to nuke the filibuster, I would say at a minimum, you want the following things.
00:03:38.000 You want to fix the immigration system for real. 0.98
00:03:41.000 So we have all these rules in place where this is what the judges who are blowing up all of our immigration stuff are relying on.
00:03:47.000 They're saying, oh, you can't override the asylum proceedings.
00:03:50.000 Oh, you have to give these people the right to these hearings before they can be deported.
00:03:54.000 You could throw out all of that.
00:03:55.000 You could pass a new bill that has way harsher on illegal immigrants, radically curtails whatever BS rights they're being given before they're deported. 0.79
00:04:04.000 You can limit legal immigration.
00:04:06.000 You can change the balance of who we're letting in, get rid of the diversity lottery, roll back H-1Bs because we're losing our own skills in the workforce. 0.99
00:04:16.000 Lots of things you could do there.
00:04:18.000 You could mess with the college cartel.
00:04:21.000 So, for example, Biden was just trying to unilaterally forgive student loans.
00:04:24.000 We could do something like say, we're going to roll back student loans.
00:04:28.000 By the way, what we're going to do is if you ever want to get a student loan again as a college, you have to pay into this giant fund to fund this forgiveness.
00:04:35.000 Imagine if we did that.
00:04:36.000 We're like, hey, Harvard, if you ever want a federal grant again, you need to give us $10 billion out of your endowment to help deflate the student loan bubble.
00:04:43.000 And, you know, reform that.
00:04:45.000 You can radically deregulate huge chunks of America so that we can build more houses, build more infrastructure, remove those barriers that have made it so hard to build things in the United States.
00:04:55.000 One thing after another.
00:04:56.000 There's so many things you can do if you have only, if you only need 50 votes to pass things, and you're ready to do it.
00:05:02.000 I worry the Republican Party isn't ready.
00:05:04.000 No, they're not ready.
00:05:04.000 They're not ready.
00:05:05.000 Because it feels like this kind of came out of nowhere based on this shutdown fight, which now we find out that Sean Duffy is saying we're going to reduce air travel flights by 10% because there's staffing shortages and all kinds of stuff.
00:05:18.000 But Trump is right that they are going to do this eventually.
00:05:22.000 They will do this eventually.
00:05:23.000 It's not a win.
00:05:24.000 It's not an if, it's a win.
00:05:26.000 So let's go ahead and this is 354, Trump warning about what will happen when they do.
00:05:31.000 The first day, they're going to pack the court.
00:05:34.000 They're going to make D.C. a state, and they're going to make Puerto Rico a state.
00:05:39.000 So now they pick up two states.
00:05:40.000 They pick up four senators.
00:05:42.000 Okay.
00:05:43.000 You think you have problems?
00:05:45.000 They're going to do all of the things.
00:05:46.000 They're going to pick up electoral votes. 1.00
00:05:48.000 It's going to be a very, very bad situation.
00:05:51.000 And it's done.
00:05:52.000 It's done.
00:05:53.000 As soon as they attain power, now, if we do what I'm saying, they'll most likely never attain power.
00:05:59.000 Yeah.
00:05:59.000 And so Trump is saying, here's why he wants to do it.
00:06:02.000 352.
00:06:04.000 It's time for Republicans to do what they have to do, and that's terminate the filibuster.
00:06:08.000 It's the only way you can do it.
00:06:10.000 And if you don't terminate the filibuster, you'll be in bad shape.
00:06:14.000 We won't pass any legislation.
00:06:16.000 And John, I think they've done an extension every single time they've ever been asked forever.
00:06:21.000 But if they won't do an extension, they won't do any bill, even a simple bill.
00:06:24.000 And we should do our own bills.
00:06:26.000 We should get out.
00:06:27.000 We should do our own bills.
00:06:28.000 We should open up.
00:06:30.000 We should start tonight with the country's open congratulations.
00:06:34.000 Then we should pass voter ID.
00:06:37.000 We should pass no mail-in voting.
00:06:39.000 We should pass all the things that we wanted to pass to make our elections secure and safe because California is a disaster.
00:06:45.000 Many of the states are disasters.
00:06:47.000 But can you imagine when they vote almost unanimously against voter ID?
00:06:52.000 All we want is voter ID.
00:06:54.000 Yeah, I mean, I have legal questions of whether or not you could do it.
00:06:58.000 Well, you do it for a while.
00:06:59.000 Keep in mind, everything we do.
00:07:00.000 Keep in mind, everything we do will be blocked by some lower district court.
00:07:05.000 So that would, honestly, if you wanted to get rid of the filibuster and, for example, do those reforms that were discussed on what lower courts can do with injunctions, I think we had Senator Leon to talk about that once.
00:07:14.000 That would be a great thing to pass.
00:07:17.000 Yeah, absolutely.
00:07:18.000 That would be injunction reform.
00:07:22.000 There's so many things you could do.
00:07:24.000 And I bet the infamous Project 2025 probably has examples of things you could do.
00:07:29.000 There's certainly many ideas out there.
00:07:32.000 The question is, do you have Republicans ready to pass them?
00:07:34.000 And the problem is, is you have a senatorial class that's gotten very spoiled.
00:07:39.000 And a line I like to tell Charlie, and I've told other people, is the filibuster does not actually protect the minority.
00:07:45.000 The filibuster protects the majority from votes it doesn't want to take.
00:07:51.000 And Republicans are a masterclass of that because a lot of Republicans, for example, don't want to reduce illegal immigration or legal immigration.
00:07:58.000 And what they can do is they confront as, oh, I'm really concerned about lost all of my immigration stuff.
00:08:03.000 Sadly, we need 60 votes to pass anything.
00:08:06.000 I'm so sorry.
00:08:08.000 And then if you get rid of the filibuster, suddenly they're called out.
00:08:12.000 Now they actually have to vote up or down on it, and they're caught out.
00:08:16.000 Yeah, I mean, listen, if we had a more unified caucus, I'd be entertaining this right now.
00:08:24.000 But the truth is, the political dynamics are the interesting part.
00:08:29.000 So if we nuke the filibuster, we get saddled with the blame for doing that, right?
00:08:34.000 Abolishing this tried-and-true, you know, institution or at least this procedural institution.
00:08:41.000 But the truth is, we just simply do not have the votes.
00:08:43.000 They're up 392.
00:08:45.000 This is John Thune is defying Trump on the filibuster.
00:08:48.000 His explanation is that we do not have the votes.
00:08:51.000 And I believe him.
00:08:52.000 I think he's probably one of them, you know, to be to be perfectly candid.
00:08:57.000 And I mean, can you imagine McConnell voting to nuke the filibuster?
00:09:00.000 Susan Collins, Mikowski.
00:09:03.000 Yeah, I don't think they're ready to do it.
00:09:07.000 And if they did do it, I'm really worried they wouldn't be ready to pass anything useful.
00:09:14.000 And, you know, he probably is right.
00:09:17.000 Democrats probably will get rid of it the next time they're in power, but it will depend.
00:09:20.000 What is the nature of their majority if it exists?
00:09:24.000 And John also will probably take them.
00:09:29.000 It will also probably take them a little bit of time to do it.
00:09:32.000 And as we're learning in these admins, you know, the days and weeks that you have to actually pass things matter a lot.
00:09:38.000 So if you want another example of how this party could be better, I think the House has been in recess for like 40 straight days or something like that.
00:09:44.000 The House clearly just hates doing work.
00:09:47.000 That could be a great bill to pass.
00:09:49.000 What if we pressured them into passing a bill that said they actually have to work?
00:09:53.000 Well, imagine getting them to pass that bill.
00:09:55.000 I think this is another instance of Trump not being crazy, Trump just being early.
00:10:00.000 And the party in the caucus is yet to catch up with him.
00:10:04.000 I do tend to think that they are going to nuke the filibuster.
00:10:07.000 And we are going to get up or down votes on Puerto Rico and D.C. becoming states.
00:10:11.000 Maybe you get a John Federan that blocks it.
00:10:14.000 Maybe you get some sane Democrats.
00:10:16.000 But to stake your entire political and the fortune of the country on Democrat sanity, I think is a losing formula.
00:10:27.000 Which, you know, we better figure out these midterms, Blake.
00:10:32.000 That's the point.
00:10:32.000 That's the main point.
00:10:35.000 This is Lane Schoenberger, Chief Investment Officer and Founding Partner of WhyReFi.
00:10:40.000 It has been an honor and a privilege to partner with Turning Point and for Charlie to endorse us.
00:10:45.000 His endorsement means the world to us, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Turning Point for years to come.
00:10:51.000 Now, here Charlie, in his own words, tell you about why ReFi.
00:10:55.000 I'm going to tell you guys about whyrefi.com.
00:10:57.000 That is why F.Y.com.
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00:11:44.000 Let us know what you think.
00:11:45.000 Freedom at charliekirk.com, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:11:48.000 think the Senate is wrong for most people want to get rid of the filibusters well I want to hear I want to hear what is the great what does the grassroots in this audience want to do do you want to nuke the filibuster do you think Trump is right or do you think it's an important institution even even if Democrats are going to do it anyway I will just remind you if they nuke it themselves and then pass radical stuff that ends up being unpopular that is a more helpful situation to us than we blew it up and they just take it down Stephen disagrees so Stephen says Andrew you are missing the point Thank you, Stephen.
00:12:18.000 The Dems will do it anyway, and we will get blamed anyway, as we are being blamed right now for the shutdown.
00:12:24.000 Yeah, we will have to hold the Rhinos' feet to the fire to get anything done, but at least Republicans will be able to protect themselves from the cheat that gets Dems elected in the first place. 0.92
00:12:36.000 So that's from Stephen.
00:12:38.000 That's interesting.
00:12:39.000 Okay.
00:12:40.000 Pathetic Republican says, Richard, guys, we will never win much because the dummy will always find a way to take down the stupid Republicans.
00:12:49.000 The dummy.
00:12:49.000 I guess that's the Democrats.
00:12:52.000 Even if they are not in power, another Trump 1.0 term, the low-life judges have taken over and eventually the Supreme Court will run the country. 0.96
00:12:58.000 Let's say it how it is.
00:12:59.000 Man, I hope, listen, I really hope that you're wrong.
00:13:05.000 I think Trump 2.0 has been way better than Trump 1.0, and that's mostly because of the personnel, right?
00:13:10.000 Personnel's policy.
00:13:11.000 We had Sarah Rogers, for example, on the show. 0.63
00:13:15.000 She's part of the State Department.
00:13:16.000 She's amazing.
00:13:18.000 And these are the caliber and the type of people that we have in Trump 2.0 that we simply did not have in 2.0.
00:13:23.000 For sure.
00:13:24.000 And by the way, remember, the border is closed.
00:13:26.000 That would have never happened.
00:13:28.000 Okay?
00:13:28.000 That's a huge historic accomplishment that we cannot forget about.
00:13:32.000 And Trump deserves a ton of credit on that.
00:13:35.000 And listen, the economy is mixed right now.
00:13:37.000 I agree we need to focus on domestic stuff.
00:13:39.000 We need to show and prove big, bold, audacious ideas on the domestic front to get people believing.
00:13:45.000 You got an email up.
00:13:47.000 It was just about, it was kind of a Senate idea.
00:13:50.000 I want to flag this very quickly because we just, I like to, Charlie was always good at reminding people of how insane Democrats have been.
00:13:58.000 This is like a kind of obscure element, but put up the photo I sent you guys of this Angela Walker woman.
00:14:04.000 In Banger, Maine, they just elected a progressive slate on the city council, and they elected Angela Walker.
00:14:10.000 Angela Walker is a, by her own admission, former drug junkie.
00:14:15.000 And 20 years ago, she and her brother murdered a Canadian tourist.
00:14:20.000 They like stuffed sand down his throat so he would asphyxiate.
00:14:24.000 And her brother got sentenced to, I think, 12 years, served five.
00:14:28.000 She got sentenced to apparently time served for this for murdering a tourist because she said he called her a mean name.
00:14:35.000 Apparently, they alleged, and these people always lie, so probably lied.
00:14:39.000 She alleged that the guy called her a squaw, which is a slur to some in American Indian communities.
00:14:44.000 And like her brother is also just this serial criminal who goes around committing tons of crimes and then accusing her.
00:14:49.000 And she gets elected to what?
00:14:50.000 She's the city council of Banger, Maine.
00:14:52.000 You're a city council.
00:14:53.000 And I'm not lying.
00:14:55.000 We got an email from someone in Banger, Maine during this show, and they were complaining about the gas prices.
00:15:00.000 And I just sent back, Banger has bigger problems than the gas prices.
00:15:04.000 They have a literal murderer drug addict on their city council.
00:15:09.000 That's shocking.
00:15:10.000 Not shocking.
00:15:11.000 It is not shocking.
00:15:13.000 It kind of makes the coming to a city near you.
00:15:16.000 Now we have what do you call this?
00:15:17.000 Like one is, you know, it's the exception, not the rule.
00:15:22.000 But now you have two elected officials in the Democrat Party that one fetishizing about murder, the other actually did it.
00:15:29.000 And so now we have a pattern of behavior where it just sort of feels like when you live in this post-sort of truth world and everything's on social media.
00:15:38.000 And, you know, gosh, we're seeing it with, you know, Charlie's assassin.
00:15:43.000 Like, it's like, you know, Charlie used to joke that he's like, we're all living in an episode of Whose Line Is It Anyways?
00:15:50.000 Yeah.
00:15:50.000 Where the points are made up and the rules don't matter.
00:15:52.000 Yeah, the rules are made up and the points don't matter.
00:15:53.000 That's what it was.
00:15:54.000 Yeah.
00:15:54.000 And it's just like, this is case in point where, you know, we have a murder on a city council in Bangor, Maine.
00:16:01.000 Yeah.
00:16:01.000 This, and she got a walk-in.
00:16:03.000 We need a palate cleanser from the music.
00:16:05.000 We want to, before the end of the segment, we want to highlight something that's really good.
00:16:10.000 It's the impact Charlie continues to have on people's faith.
00:16:13.000 So that's one last great thing from the Jesse Erica interview.
00:16:16.000 Let's do 357. 0.59
00:16:17.000 I feel like his assassination has changed you as a person.
00:16:21.000 Like, there's a difference in you.
00:16:23.000 How has this impacted you?
00:16:25.000 It has.
00:16:26.000 It has.
00:16:27.000 It has made me seek a deeper connection with God.
00:16:32.000 You know, I was, they call it a CE Christian.
00:16:35.000 You go to church on Christmas and Easter.
00:16:38.000 I went to Sunday school as a kid, but I found myself reading more about Jesus Christ.
00:16:44.000 And, you know, my life has changed since this happened.
00:16:48.000 The country has changed since this happened.
00:16:51.000 And you can't not feel that.
00:16:54.000 Everyone feels it.
00:16:55.000 It's something that you have to nourish like a flame and protect and keep because that spirit of Charlie Kirk is still alive in all of us and still alive in the country.
00:17:10.000 Yeah, really powerful.
00:17:11.000 Bible sales spiked 36% in the month of September and so many other pieces of that.
00:17:18.000 President Trump walked into a catch-22 when taking office.
00:17:21.000 Do nothing, and America would be staring at a ticking debt bomb, the kind of crisis that could cripple our future.
00:17:26.000 Instead, he's taken action with strong policies to slow the train and buy us some time.
00:17:31.000 But the effects of past administration spending are still working through the system, and experts predict dramatic price increases and market uncertainty.
00:17:39.000 Trump is doing all he can, but no matter who's in office, protecting your retirement savings is ultimately up to you.
00:17:45.000 And that's why many Americans are turning to real assets like gold and silver.
00:17:49.000 Preserve gold is our go-to choice here at the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:17:53.000 We use them because they make it easy to own physical gold and silver even inside your retirement accounts like an IRA or 401k.
00:18:00.000 Now, hear from Charlie in his own words: Preserve Gold is my go-to choice for all my precious metal needs.
00:18:05.000 They are the real deal, and I recommend them to my friends, family, and viewers.
00:18:09.000 Get their free wealth protection guide now by texting Charlie to 50-505.
00:18:15.000 President Trump is fighting for America's future.
00:18:16.000 Now it's your turn to help protect yours.
00:18:21.000 All right, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:18:24.000 I'm Andrew Colvett, executive producer of this fine show.
00:18:27.000 And I am so excited about this next guest, somebody that not too long ago, we spent some really amazing time right here in a conference room.
00:18:38.000 I could walk to it in about three seconds.
00:18:40.000 And that is, of course, Yael Eckstein, IFCJ Global President and CEO.
00:18:45.000 That's the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
00:18:47.000 Yael, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:18:50.000 Thank you so much, Andrew.
00:18:52.000 What a blessing to be here with you.
00:18:54.000 Yeah, and it's the first time you've been on, obviously, since the tragic news that we got that Charlie had been taken from us and taken from this world.
00:19:03.000 And when it happened, Yael, I couldn't help but recall, as I just said, that time we spent in June, so just a couple months ago, together in the conference room here in Phoenix.
00:19:18.000 And it was one of the most memorable meetings that I had ever had with Charlie, as a matter of fact.
00:19:24.000 And you were so sweet and you wanted to just engage in this ideas.
00:19:29.000 And Charlie was riffing and he had all these thoughts.
00:19:33.000 And you were just like, I want it.
00:19:35.000 Let me get my noteback and I take this down.
00:19:36.000 Charlie was like, absolutely.
00:19:38.000 So the floor is yours, Yael. 0.85
00:19:40.000 Maybe just start there and reflect on your personal friendship with Charlie and kind of what that meant and what you learned and how you're thinking about these weeks since he was taken from us.
00:19:52.000 Wow.
00:19:52.000 Well, to see you there, Andrew, in the studio doing this podcast gives me so much hope for the future.
00:19:59.000 And to see Charlie's empty chair is something that I think we'll all feel in our hearts forever.
00:20:06.000 I'll never forget that day that we sat together with Charlie.
00:20:10.000 We had around a 10-minute meeting scheduled and Charlie came in.
00:20:14.000 He was so busy.
00:20:15.000 And I know that look and I know that feeling.
00:20:17.000 And I was like, okay, I'm here for as long as you have.
00:20:19.000 Don't worry about anything.
00:20:21.000 He's like, what do you want to talk about, Yell?
00:20:22.000 I said, share your heart with me, Charlie.
00:20:24.000 You could tell me anything.
00:20:25.000 Tell me the hard things.
00:20:27.000 Tell me the hard things about Israel.
00:20:28.000 Tell me the hard things.
00:20:29.000 Tell me anything that you want.
00:20:31.000 You could just share with me.
00:20:32.000 And it was incredible how suddenly he transformed into the most loving, passionate, wise kind of leader I've ever seen in my life.
00:20:43.000 And I've sat with a lot of world leaders.
00:20:46.000 And what I saw in him was both this humble servant heart.
00:20:51.000 Of course, being that I live in Israel, I represent Israel and Jewish-Christian relations and where Jews and Christians find that common bond spiritually.
00:21:00.000 I saw a spirit that was alive and in love with Israel.
00:21:04.000 And he was someone who I think held such truth in the sense of he was able to be critical of policies of the Israeli government without at all being critical of Israel as the spiritual homeland.
00:21:20.000 He was able to both say, this is a just war.
00:21:24.000 We have to get these hostages back.
00:21:26.000 And when the hostages came back just a day before Charlie's birthday, I know you and me both, Andrew, were like, thank you, Charlie.
00:21:34.000 We know you were praying for this.
00:21:36.000 We know you had a part in this.
00:21:38.000 But what I saw was he was able to recognize what Israel's going through and the complexity within it, recognizing good as good, bad as bad, and also recognizing you can have concerns and be critical of Israel without completely saying Israel doesn't have a right to exist or that the Jewish people shouldn't have a homeland or any of the other things that so many people are saying today.
00:22:00.000 Man, Yao, I want to give you a compliment on this because, you know, I obviously had heard Charlie in those kind of conversations multiple times.
00:22:11.000 And you just had such a sweet spirit and such a welcoming, and it was, and you could just feel that you were sincere, that you were like, please, I want to know exactly what you really think.
00:22:23.000 And I felt it, Andrew.
00:22:25.000 Yeah, and Charlie just blossomed.
00:22:27.000 No, and Charlie just blossomed in front of you. 0.77
00:22:29.000 And that, and that's exactly like you could see just all of his like that loving nature, that kindness, and that, and, and just that earnest desire to help because he was frustrated about some things and he was frustrated about the messaging and all this stuff.
00:22:43.000 It's all been very publicized, you know, at this point.
00:22:46.000 But, but, like, you gave him a floor and to say all these things that he'd been keeping in his, he was thinking really deeply about for a long time.
00:22:56.000 And I just loved when you got out your notebook, your notepad and you're like, can I take notes?
00:23:00.000 You're like, yes.
00:23:00.000 And he gave you like seven points or something.
00:23:04.000 And I'm sitting there going like, wow, this is really like detailed, Charlie, you know?
00:23:09.000 And you just started writing it.
00:23:11.000 And I just, I remember being so impressed by just the warmth because I mean, you could have got defensive or something.
00:23:17.000 I don't know.
00:23:18.000 I mean, there's many options of how you could have reacted in that moment, but you were so loving.
00:23:23.000 And Charlie could, Charlie just walked away from that and be like, she's the best.
00:23:26.000 She's the absolute best.
00:23:28.000 Well, I remember that hug that he gave me after, right before we parted, when we went over those seven different points that he told me.
00:23:34.000 And then, you know, we, we, we spoke for an hour and a half and we were supposed to only have five or 10 minutes.
00:23:40.000 And we got up and I was like, can I give you a hug?
00:23:42.000 And he gave me a hug that I will feel forever.
00:23:46.000 And he also gave me a cell phone number and we would text each other, Shabbat Shalom.
00:23:50.000 And we would talk about how it's really this spirit of love and hope and positivity that's going to change the world.
00:23:57.000 And it's what I saw in Charlie and everything he did.
00:23:59.000 What Charlie did, he went to people that he disagreed with and he said, tell me your story.
00:24:04.000 Let me try to understand you.
00:24:06.000 I can disagree with you and I can love you.
00:24:08.000 And what Charlie stood for was changing the world and making the world better.
00:24:11.000 And he would always say what the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is doing, of feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and helping both the Jews and the Christians in Israel.
00:24:20.000 We've built hospitals for the Christian community in Nazareth.
00:24:23.000 We give food boxes for Christians in the Old City the same way we're feeding Jewish Holocaust survivors. 0.58
00:24:28.000 We're helping persecuted Christians in Syria.
00:24:32.000 We built them clinics and health clinics and distributed food boxes.
00:24:36.000 And Charlie always said, like, the answer to everything is love, especially when it comes down to the Holy Land.
00:24:42.000 So still on my desk, I have three pieces of paper that I have hanging up in front of my desk.
00:24:49.000 One of them is those notes that I took that you're talking about, Andrew, with the seven points that Charlie says, Charlie Kirk meeting in Arizona.
00:24:57.000 And even before he was assassinated, I have a list of Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer quotes, which I always want to hold in my heart.
00:25:06.000 And I have a list of the five things that King Solomon prayed to God for when he became king.
00:25:12.000 So that meeting was life-changing, even before he was assassinated.
00:25:16.000 What company Charlie gets to keep on your wall there?
00:25:20.000 I mean, that's that is, I mean, you know, and I like to say that Charlie is a modern founding father because he lived his life in such an exemplary way, in such a passionate way, that you couldn't help but be, it was just, it was contagious to be around him.
00:25:36.000 You would feel his energy, like that motor was just never stopped churning.
00:25:40.000 And he was always thinking creatively about how to get to the next solution and get over this current problem or whatever.
00:25:48.000 And one of those problems that we talked about was the hostages.
00:25:53.000 And I'll never forget, we prayed for the hostages to be released in our office here.
00:25:58.000 And so, as you mentioned, October 13th, the day before Charlie would have turned 32, the hostages get released.
00:26:07.000 And there's this massive, massive peace in the Middle East summit.
00:26:10.000 President Trump flies there.
00:26:12.000 There's this huge moment in the Knesset.
00:26:15.000 And I just thought, oh, gosh, I wish Charlie could have seen this because we had been so desperate for this war to come to an end.
00:26:26.000 And, you know, all like, and just hope that so many of these friction points, these tension points that we're all navigating, like maybe they could just be finally put to rest and that Israel could find peace and closure after October 7th.
00:26:41.000 So I just, you know, I got to ask, what was that day like for you?
00:26:45.000 Because you prayed about it with Charlie.
00:26:47.000 I could tell it was like first and foremost on your heart and your mind.
00:26:51.000 And that even just in June when we were meeting and how much you were thinking about it.
00:26:55.000 So then you were probably in Israel when it happened.
00:26:58.000 I can only imagine because you do travel back and forth a lot.
00:27:01.000 But I'm assuming you were there.
00:27:02.000 Like what was that moment like for you?
00:27:04.000 What were you thinking about?
00:27:06.000 What was it like on the ground?
00:27:08.000 Wow.
00:27:08.000 Well, there's a Bible verse that actually came to me when I was in labor with my second son, who's now almost 17.
00:27:16.000 But between each contraction, I would say, Yeshua Tashem Keharifain, redemption from the Lord comes in the blink of an eye.
00:27:22.000 And I would have a contraction.
00:27:23.000 It was so painful and I felt like I was going to die.
00:27:25.000 And then suddenly it would calm down.
00:27:27.000 And I would say that.
00:27:28.000 This too shall pass.
00:27:29.000 Yeah, this too shall be.
00:27:29.000 And this too shall pass.
00:27:30.000 Exactly.
00:27:31.000 And when I saw those hostages coming back into Israel after two years of living, something none of us could ever imagine, I just kept saying, Yeshua Tashemke Herife, redemption from the Lord can come in the blink of an eye.
00:27:46.000 It felt like I was watching, Andrew, like the Ezekiel prophecy of the dry bones coming to life, that they really, they were like dry bones underground coming and finding life again.
00:27:58.000 And I was in the Knesset.
00:27:59.000 I was invited there when President Trump spoke and I felt Charlie Kirk.
00:28:05.000 I felt him there.
00:28:07.000 And I kept thinking, if he was alive, he would be here.
00:28:10.000 Yes.
00:28:11.000 If he was alive, he would be here.
00:28:12.000 I totally felt that with you.
00:28:14.000 Well, Charlie probably would have been doing his show because I would have told him, no, Charlie, we need to get this.
00:28:19.000 It's too big of a news day.
00:28:20.000 You got to do your show.
00:28:22.000 But yeah, I mean, listen, the spirit of Charlie Kirk lives on, there's no doubt.
00:28:29.000 And I don't mean that in some like hocus-pocus way.
00:28:31.000 I just mean we carry him with us.
00:28:32.000 We carry him in our hearts.
00:28:34.000 And I know Israel does too.
00:28:35.000 I mean, of all the countries that mourned Charlie's passing, I mean, I mean, second to America, I think it must have been Israel because I saw so much going on.
00:28:44.000 There's so many vigils, so many mourners.
00:28:47.000 But we are all carrying this with us.
00:28:49.000 And I think the whole world was, Yahoo, honestly.
00:28:53.000 I think the whole world wanted to achieve some sort of peace.
00:28:56.000 I think the whole world, not just in Israel, but like around the world.
00:28:58.000 I think like Charlie's legacy, he was so anti-war.
00:29:04.000 Like people don't fully appreciate how deeply disturbed Charlie was by any form of war.
00:29:09.000 Like he just wanted peace.
00:29:11.000 And so that day, I totally relate to you on that.
00:29:15.000 And I am with you 100%.
00:29:17.000 I kept thinking about Charlie.
00:29:18.000 We said it in our group chats.
00:29:19.000 Like, it's just like, man, I wish Charlie could see this.
00:29:22.000 He wanted this so badly, you know?
00:29:24.000 Yeah.
00:29:24.000 Yeah.
00:29:25.000 And what's incredible, Andrew, is something that I didn't expect.
00:29:29.000 You know, the fellowship, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Ministry that I oversee, we've been working and supporting the families of the hostages for the past two years, being there with them, telling them Christians around the world love you and stand with you and support you.
00:29:42.000 And I was sure that the survivors of this hell would come out and they would have lost all faith, that we would have to rebuild it.
00:29:49.000 And they came out with faith stronger than ever.
00:29:52.000 One of the hostages said, I went into the tunnels with a little bit of faith.
00:29:56.000 I came out speaking to God as my best friend.
00:29:59.000 My faith is stronger than ever.
00:30:01.000 There was another hostage who said, the only thing that I had was a little prayer book and I would say Psalms on repeat every day.
00:30:09.000 And another hostage said, I never kept the Sabbath in my life, but in those tunnels, I kept the Sabbath and prayed out to God louder than ever before.
00:30:18.000 And these were people who were starved, who were tortured, who were chained.
00:30:22.000 And they were told if they convert to Islam and read from the Quran, they'll get food.
00:30:26.000 And they looked at their captors and said, no way, I'm standing with the God of Israel.
00:30:31.000 I'm not converting.
00:30:32.000 And so to see them walk out of that torture of two years with faith intact, it's something that I believe there's a message for all of us there, that justice was as they say.
00:30:47.000 Yeah.
00:30:48.000 As they say, there's no atheists in the foxholes.
00:30:50.000 So I think that was a good example of it.
00:30:55.000 If you're a listener to the Charlie Kirk show, you know that Charlie built an amazing community through conversation.
00:31:01.000 And that was online.
00:31:02.000 That was in person.
00:31:03.000 It was everywhere.
00:31:04.000 We're able to go very viral about what we're able to do on TikTok, billions and billions of views.
00:31:09.000 But it was one connection at a time.
00:31:11.000 TikTok offers opportunities for respectful exchanges of ideas.
00:31:16.000 And through that, opportunities for community, not to talk over each other, but to talk with each other.
00:31:21.000 On TikTok, you'll find creators who teach and encourage a carpenter passing on his craft, a mom explaining how to make a budget stretch, or a gardener showing us how to bring a backyard back to life.
00:31:32.000 Different stories, but the same drive, the desire to connect and to understand.
00:31:36.000 That's what makes a strong community, a common desire to connect, to find a way forward through respectful dialogue, building trust and feeling heard.
00:31:43.000 Freedom to speak what we know and hear each other out.
00:31:46.000 That's the power of TikTok.
00:31:48.000 It gives everyone a seat at the table, a place to speak, to listen, and to remind each other of what connection really looks like.
00:31:54.000 Conversation build connection and connections build communities.
00:32:00.000 So, yeah, so I just, how many kids do you have?
00:32:04.000 I have four kids.
00:32:05.000 Thank God.
00:32:05.000 Four.
00:32:06.000 Wow.
00:32:07.000 I have three.
00:32:08.000 So you beat me by one.
00:32:09.000 And basically.
00:32:11.000 Andrew, there's two times.
00:32:12.000 Well, I know.
00:32:13.000 I know.
00:32:13.000 But not according to my wife.
00:32:14.000 There's not.
00:32:16.000 My poor wife. 1.00
00:32:17.000 Yeah.
00:32:18.000 I've been traveling a lot, especially, you know, in recent weeks.
00:32:21.000 So she's the real MVP, as Kevin Durant said.
00:32:24.000 But yeah, so do I hear this right?
00:32:27.000 She's joining the IDF.
00:32:29.000 Is this right?
00:32:29.000 Yeah.
00:32:30.000 Yes.
00:32:30.000 I have a daughter.
00:32:31.000 My oldest is 19 years old.
00:32:34.000 Yeah.
00:32:34.000 And just like all the kids in Israel, when they turn 18, they join the IDF.
00:32:39.000 And it's something I've been thinking about from the time my kids have been born.
00:32:42.000 It's both such a privilege and blessing to be born in this generation where after 2,000 years of exile, we have the land of Israel that was prophesied in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
00:32:54.000 And we're seeing all these prophecies come to life.
00:32:57.000 And it's the biggest privilege to live in this land right now.
00:33:00.000 And it's also a huge responsibility.
00:33:02.000 And so every kid, when they turn 18, goes and protects these borders.
00:33:06.000 And so as a mother, what I've realized, Andrew, is the only thing we have in our hands, the only choice we have is are we going to pray or not?
00:33:16.000 And so I'm praying very hard.
00:33:18.000 My goodness.
00:33:19.000 I feel that too.
00:33:19.000 Gosh, with my, you know, with my kids, you know, all of this has just spun our lives into a totally different direction.
00:33:27.000 And I have to help host the show and, you know, all the things that we do.
00:33:32.000 We're moving.
00:33:33.000 And, you know, prayer is powerful and it's comforting.
00:33:39.000 And but prayer is powerful.
00:33:41.000 That's the main thing.
00:33:42.000 And especially when we pray for our kids, I think, you know, that's something that God puts on our hearts as parents.
00:33:48.000 And we need to be faithful to that and do it a lot and get on our knees and pray for the future of our kids and future of our country and peace.
00:33:55.000 Because what are we going to do if we don't have that?
00:33:57.000 So I want to, so this is a remarkable stat that was just shared with me that since October 7th, the fellowship provided over $300 million in direct aid.
00:34:09.000 Did I get a zero?
00:34:10.000 Did I accidentally add an extra zero on there?
00:34:13.000 God is so much bigger than anything we imagine.
00:34:17.000 Yes, we've distributed over $300 million of life-saving aid in Israel to all communities in Israel, to the Jewish community, to the Christian community, to the Druze, to the Bedouin, even to the Muslim community in Israel.
00:34:28.000 Of course, 20% of Israel's population are non-Jews.
00:34:32.000 And so we distribute aid according to need, not according to religion or anything else.
00:34:37.000 So, I mean, that's a huge accomplishment.
00:34:41.000 And so congratulations to that.
00:34:43.000 And what a blessing.
00:34:44.000 But I have a question because so now that we're in peace, obviously you guys were so focused on the war effort and helping all the need that was arising out of this tumultuous situation.
00:34:57.000 So now where is the focus of IFCJ going to be placed?
00:35:02.000 Or is it still kind of, is there still more that we don't know about kind of going on with the in and around Gaza or with the IDF?
00:35:08.000 Like what's what's happening now?
00:35:10.000 Well, we look at the scriptures and we're told to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the poor.
00:35:15.000 That's what the fellowship has been doing for over 40 years.
00:35:18.000 So we're going to continue to do that.
00:35:20.000 Right now, in a way, during these times of quiet, is our opportunity to be able to seed into the peace of Jerusalem, seed into bringing food and hope to the Holocaust survivors, going to the orphans and the children who have been affected and bringing them food and clothing and telling them Christians and Jews around the world stand with you.
00:35:40.000 That in so many ways, Andrew, now that the war ends is when the real work begins to rebuild these communities.
00:35:47.000 The fellowship just built kindergartens on the border with Gaza that were destroyed on October 7th so the kids couldn't go back to school.
00:35:56.000 And so we're here in Israel planting those seeds.
00:35:59.000 We built a hospital in Nazareth and we'll continue to do everything to help the people.
00:36:04.000 Yeah, so I didn't mean to interrupt because I know you've probably got like a bunch of projects you could rattle off.
00:36:10.000 So, but with the kibbutzes, so there was a lot. 1.00
00:36:12.000 I mean, these things, these kibbutzes got totally devastated. 1.00
00:36:17.000 Where are they at in rebuilding or have they have they been abandoned?
00:36:21.000 Are they getting rebuilt?
00:36:22.000 Like what's what's the status with some of those communities?
00:36:25.000 It's a great question.
00:36:26.000 I was just recently in near Oz, which is on the border with the Gaza Strip.
00:36:30.000 And one in four people from that Jewish kibbutz were either kidnapped or killed.
00:36:36.000 Every single house was burned down and it still hasn't been rebuilt.
00:36:41.000 But the people want to come back.
00:36:42.000 And so they're putting caravans next to the kibbutz. 0.94
00:36:46.000 They're putting anything that they could in order to go and move back and show this resilience, this hope.
00:36:52.000 They're seeds that are blooming with hope for the future.
00:36:56.000 And now that the war is over, we'll start to rebuild those kibbutzim. 1.00
00:37:00.000 But there is so many needs.
00:37:02.000 There are trauma centers that there are wounded soldiers.
00:37:06.000 You have a generation of 18-year-olds that are missing limbs, but they're determined to go out and work.
00:37:12.000 We actually, we had one man who we brought from the former Soviet Union and Aliyah, this biblical prophecy coming to fruition of the ingathering of the people.
00:37:21.000 And he came from this biblical land of the north with the fellowship to Israel.
00:37:24.000 And he ended up joining the IDF as a lone soldier.
00:37:28.000 He was injured by terrorists that they threw an anti-tank missile at his tank, and he lost his leg.
00:37:36.000 But he's now volunteering with the fellowship, distributing food boxes to elderly.
00:37:40.000 And he even learned how to ride a handicapped bike and is competing on behalf of the state of Israel in the competitions for handicapped.
00:37:51.000 So we are seeing a resilience that I couldn't even imagine before October 7th.
00:37:57.000 And the fellowship is there both to give hope and strengthen.
00:38:00.000 That's awesome.
00:38:01.000 I love those kinds of stories.
00:38:02.000 And the resilience of the people of Israel has been truly amazing.
00:38:08.000 So we prayed last time, and I got one minute left, Yael, before we have to say goodbye to our show today.
00:38:13.000 But we prayed for the hostages to get released.
00:38:17.000 So what should we be thinking about and praying about now?
00:38:20.000 What is the next call to action?
00:38:22.000 Well, I pray for America every single day.
00:38:24.000 I believe a strong America is a strong world.
00:38:27.000 I pray for the peace of Jerusalem, just as the scriptures tell us.
00:38:30.000 And I believe that with a strong America and a strong and unified Israel, we'll be able to see more countries join the historic Abraham Accords. 0.61
00:38:39.000 This is something that I believe is blessed in the eyes of God that's possible.
00:38:43.000 And we have to believe that light always overcomes the darkness.
00:38:47.000 We've seen darkness and now it's time for light.
00:38:50.000 Yeah.
00:38:50.000 And if you guys want to get on board with that, I totally agree.
00:38:53.000 The Abraham Accords, all this peace is just exploding in a good way. 0.94
00:38:57.000 It's probably the wrong choice of words, but throughout the region.
00:38:59.000 And we thank God for it.
00:39:01.000 Go to IFCJ, ifcj.org if you want to get involved with what Yael's doing, ifcj.org.
00:39:09.000 Thank you, Yael.
00:39:09.000 It's been such a pleasure.
00:39:10.000 Pleasure.
00:39:11.000 Thank you so much.
00:39:12.000 Bless you.
00:39:12.000 You're doing amazing, Andrew.
00:39:14.000 With you.
00:39:15.000 Thank you.